Art in the Park

Can you imagine my excitement when the folks at Elmer’s Glue asked if I’d like to participate as a blogger in their summer Kid’s Craft Camp promotion? Of course I was thrilled that they offered me a humongous crate of wonderful art supplies (featured in this post), but mostly I was thinking about how on earth I could pull off setting up an art “camp” with my three year old AND 10-month old. The crazy thing is that I’m actually a seasoned art camp teacher and spent many hot summers leading hundreds of kids in art activities at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. But I’d never attempted this with my own kids…who nap and need diaper changes and whine. You get the picture. But I invited a handful of forgiving friends and it all turned out great! I survived, and if you have any thoughts about setting up your own “Art in the Park,” I’m happy to say that it can be done.

One more thing in case you missed the headline…this is also a BIG giveaway! Details below

Project #1: Firework Book Bags

One of the materials that came in the crate were these ginormous double-sided permanent markers called Project Popperz. The children I invited were pretty young, and permanent markers are way far down on my list of desirable materials for this age. However, I recently saw this project on Mom’s Crafty Space and knew we had to try it. And I’m so glad we did — it was fun, a cool science experiment, and the results were stunning. **Note: This project includes permanent markers and rubbing alcohol and should be done with adult supervision.

Materials

Project Popperz permanent markers

Canvas Bag or other light colored fabric (a t-shirt a dress shirt would work nicely)

Board to put inside the bag to keep the markers from bleeding through. We used these Elmer’s Bi-fold boards and they worked perfectly.

Rubbing Alcohol 70%

Eye dropper

Step #1. Invite some friends to join you.

Step #2. Draw anything you like directly onto the bag. If you want yours to look like the fireworks you see up there, try making circles of dots like those that N is making.

Step #3. Once you have a design that you’re happy with, squeeze some rubbing alcohol into the eye dropper and then squeeze it out right in the middle of the circle. Watch the markers bleed and ooh and ahh at the results. Lovely.

Step #4. Admire your work! Our friend, E, not only made a firework, but she worked on her letters too. Oh, how I love children’s drawings.

Project #2: Sand Paintings

While Elmer’s didn’t send me any of their famous school glue (why, I don’t know — isn’t that what they’re best known for?!), I really wanted to use this stuff. Kids love squeezing the bottles and I knew it would make them all so happy. And since we were at the park, I also wanted to include some sand in a project. At first I envisioned that the kids could just hunker down right in the sandbox to make these, but the artsy side of me opted to color the sand ahead of time. Here’s how we did it…

Materials

Colored Sand. Scoop some dry sand into a bowl and squeeze in a healthy amount of liquid watercolors or food coloring. Mix it up until the sand is covered and then spread it out on a paper plate to dry. I let ours dry overnight. Pour it back into the bowls.

Colored Card Stock or Sulphite Construction Paper (what we used here — I love this paper. The colors pop and the weight is like construction paper).

Step #1. Squeeze glue into a design on the paper. Encourage children to squeeze it thinly (rather than in one huge pile) to help it dry more quickly. If they just want to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, I say let them do that instead. It should be all about the process.

Step #2. Sprinkle a handful of colored sand on the glue. Repeat until done.They all come out completely different, just like the kids who make them.

+++++

Giveaway!

One lucky friend of TinkerLab will receive one adult and two kid craft kits, which amounts to a whole lot of art supplies! Kits include X-Acto scissors, Craft Gel pens, Painters pens, glue sticks, Craft Bond tape, Project Popperz, Bi-Fold Bords, etc. (Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of all the materials that will be included, but it’s more than what you see here!). Packaging will also differ.

I love the fireworks with rubbing alcohol! What fun! I’ve been thinking of doing some sort of “art camp” with our play group, especially as the holidays near so the kids could make their presents! Your site is giving me tons of ideas to do at home with my youngster and with our playgroup- THANKS!

I love all the ideas you share in your blog! I have a 2 year old and a 9 month old and was scared it would be too much to do so much arts and crafts – but you show how easy and fun it can be. Thank you!

What a GREAT idea to use rubbing alcohol! I am going to try this project this afternoon with my 4 year old little girl. She loves arts and crafts!
Thanks for giving us a chance to win such a great prize!

Awesome post! My daughter LOVES to squeeze glue and sprinkle glitter. We just scored a bunch of Elmer’s School Glue for 40 cents each at Target’s “back to school” sale! It’s a great time to stock up now for fun art activities throughout the year. :o)

You did an excellent job. I am so impressed. I love the sharpie idea. I remember doing that in high school. I am also amazed how you did this all with two small children. I am crossing my fingers I win. : )

Love your site! Thank you for all the wonderful and totally fun, educational art projects. I have the grand kids doing lots of art activities this summer and appreciate your ideas and especially the photos.

Can’t wait to try the firework’s effect! Summer if finally arriving in the Pacific Northwest, so Game On! Love your blog, you have inspired me to start a blog myself, hope to have it up and running by September.

I just stumbled across your blog. Yup, I was blog hopping. I bookmarked yours, so I could come back and pour over all your great ideas. I have two four year olds with special needs. For my son, anything art related goes straight into his mouth or gets thrown across the room (can you tell he has sensory issues!). I am thankful for my screened in porch that has become our art room! I can’t wait to try some new projects!

Terrific projects. I love the shredded paper. And, really not such a difficult cleanup. Tote bag project is a great idea of any time of year. This is a great program for us close to the holidays when we are having children make gifts.

Finding Tinkerlab this summer is perfect timing– we’re creating a makerspace in my elementary school library. Your ideas are so helpful in planning, and any materials we gain are very much appreciated. Thanks so much for sharing with educators!